Thursday, March 8, 2012

It’s hard to tell who Sammy Hagar is promoting more these days – his current band, Chickenfoot, or his former group, Van Halen.

Fans are confused by the mixed messages being sent by the Red Rocker: as someone who’s worked hard to position himself as a nice guy, he’s constantly slamming Van Halen – a band he left 8 years ago - at every turn.

“The fact that they're [VH] out [on tour] right now, that's so great; I'm so happy that they're out doing it - but look how long it took,” says Sammy. “It's so dysfunctional and who knows how long it will last like this and I just can't be part of something like that.”

“I don't think I ever slowed down and stopped trying to prove something in that damn band 'til the reunion in '04, but by then it was too late,” continued Hagar. “Eddie was shot at that point, though I heard he's great now, and I'm really happy that he's supposedly sober and playing great and doing good. People think, ‘Oh you hate the guy.’ I don't hate the guy, I love the guy. I hate what he did in '04 to me on the reunion tour, but other than that I still love the guy.”

Described as a “straight shooter to a fault” by the Times writer, Sammy was asked if he was ever worried about being too honest in his 2011 book, “Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.”

“There were a lot of times where I said, ‘I really shouldn't say this.’ But I felt that my fans, who've been with me all this time, deserved the real story; they need to hear why and understand why I am who I am and why I've become what I've become and how I did it and what I went through for it,” responded Hagar. “I just figured at this stage of my life I'm just gonna tell the whole story. A lot of it had to do with Van Halen; there was always a controversy of who said what and ‘He did this and he did that,’ and I wanted to tell the truth about all that.”

As straightforward as he was in “Red,” one of the “real” and “whole” stories Hagar never talks about is that the 2011 book was actually his toned down, second attempt at an autobiography. Sammy worked with author David Huff on “Red Storm Arising” but bailed on the project when he reportedly got nervous about potential lawsuits by some of the parties discussed in the project. Sammy went to court in May, 1999 to prevent the book’s release; two chapters were eventually leaked online (and can still be found). Read the MTV news report on the book’s fate here.